The second day of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25, fourth round will only be remembered for the way Shreyas Iyer played vs Odisha, to slam his third FC double ton. Despite being repeatedly ignored for the Test side, he has once again proved, why he is a must for India in every format. Other than that, there were a few notable performances, good and bad, that made the headlines on Thursday. InsideSport takes a look at some of them:
Shreyas Iyer Makes Case for India Call-up
Shreyas Iyer has just increased the headache for India selection panel, with a double ton (233) against Odisha. This is his second ton in as many matches, that gives him an outside chance to make it to IND vs AUS Tests. That said, he has put his team in a commanding position. His 233 took Mumbai to 602/4d, and in reply Odisha could only manage, 146/5 at stumps. Siddhesh Lad remained unbeaten at 169.
Cheteshwar Pujara Fails Again
Despite a resounding start to the Ranji Trophy this year, with a 234 vs Chhattisgarh, Saurashtra’s Cheteshwar Pujara has failed once again. After scoring 2,3 vs Railways, he could only manage 14 from 18 deliveries, vs Jharkhand. The latter were bundled out for 306 and in reply Saurashtra are 201/4, largely due to the efforts of Harvik Desai (81) and Chirag Jani (56).
Ayush Badoni Shines with Ball
Delhi boy Ayush Badoni isn’t known for his skills with the ball, much. But then, he changed his reputation a bit, when he bagged four wickets against Chandigarh. After scoring 49 in the first innings, he turned up with the ball for his state, as they bundled out the opposition for 324. That meant, Delhi went on to score 32/0 at stumps, and be in an advantageous position, before the start of the day 3. Currently, they only trail by 16 runs, with 10 wickets in hand.
Indian Bradman Agni Chopra Fails
One of the other notable performances, or the non-performance was from local Bradman Agni Chopra. With a FC average of 99, he had turned all heads, but then, not much heed was paid to his numbers anyways, since the southpaw batter plies his trade for Mizoram, in the Plate Division. Mind you, this year he has two double tons and a hundred apart from that, but he failed in the first innings vs Goa.
He was dismissed for 1 by Mohit Redkar, and will have the onerous task of saving his team from a defeat. In the first innings, Goa scored 555/9d, and in reply Mizoram are 122/6, still trailing by 433 runs.
